Tuesday, 3 March 2015

The Darkangel by Meredith Ann Pierce

Series: Darkangel Trilogy

Author: Meredith Ann PiercePage Count: 281Published: April 15th, 1998

Publisher: Harcourt Brace & Company Magic Carpet Books

4 Stars ★★★★

Aeriel
and her mistress, Eoduin, are out one day, away from their village,
when the Darkangel kidnaps Eoduin to be his bride. Aeriel hopes to
avenge her mistress by killing the vampyre, but she is kidnapped as
well, to be his servant.The
Darkangel's castle is dark and depressing, guarded by menacing, chained
gargoyles. Aeriel is tasked with tending to the vampyres's thirteen
wives, who have now become hideous, soulless wraiths.

The wraiths
urge her to kill the vampyre before he chooses a fourteenth and final
bride and the magical duarough, living in the caves beneath the castle,
helps her devise a plan to lead to his undoing. But will Aeriel have the
ruthlessness to truly end the Darkangel's existence? Or will her
compassion motivate her to find another way to defeat his evil side?

The
first book in this trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce was captivating,
magical, and emotional. Despite some wordy descriptions and occasionally
confusing dialogue, I was sucked into the story from the first chapter.

I
consider this novel to be fantasy, horror, and adventure, a combination
of sub-genres I have never come across in the general young adult genre
before. It included everything from winged vampires to living water to
water witches to talking animals, and it took place in what appeared to
be another planet or world. The horror aspect was fulfilled through the
wraiths' appearances and over-all condition, along with the vampyre's
gothic castle, his unpredictable temper and grisly past times, and the
dark tales Aeriel tells to the inhabitants of the castle. As for the
adventure, Aeriel's quest to obtain the materials necessary to kill the
vampyre is an adventure both excitingly dangerous and breathtakingly
beautiful.

I felt like this book was kind of like a retelling of
Beauty and the Beast. We have the woman kidnapped and brought to a
beast's castle, the cast of unique and/or transformed inhabitants, and
the incident of the captive running away and later returning, her
compassion for her captor overcoming her fear. For this reason, I
recommend this book to fans of fairy-tale retellings.

I
also recommend this book to fans of fantasy, horror, and adventure
stories, and to adults and teens alike looking for a romance-free novel
with paranormal themes.